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Indonesian Education Wiki
Introduction Indonesia is an archipelago nation consisting of approximately 17,000 islands located in Southeast Asia. Indonesian, popularly referred to as Bahasa Indonesia, is the official national language but there are more than 300 ethnic groups speaking over 700 different dialects and languages. Indonesia was a Dutch colony for a period of over 300 years, and occupied by Japan throughout World War II. On August, 17th, 1945, after 4 years of Japanese occupation, Indonesia finally gained independence. The country is founded upon Pancasila, Indonesia's national ideology consisting of 5 pillars: (1) monotheism; (2) humanism; (3) nationalism represented by the unity of Indonesia; (4) representative government; and (5) social justice. Indonesia continues to look to the Pancasila today for guidance and after over 30 years of centralized authoritarian rule, Indonesia is one of the world’s largest democracies. Geography Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world, expanding 3,181 miles from east to west and 1,094 miles from north to south. Its national borders lie between latitudes 11°S and 6°N, and longitudes 95°E and 141°E. Indonesia is estimated to have approximately 17,000 islands, an amount which fluctuates due to discrepancies in survey qualifications and tide levels. The largest islands are Java (49,536 mi²), Sumatra (182,812 mi²), Borneo with Brunei and Malaysia (287,001 mi²), Sulawesi (67,413 mi²), and New Guinea with Papua New Guinea (303,476 mi²). Indonesia shares land borders with Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor as well as maritime borders with Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Palau, and Australia. Approximately 6,000 Indonesian islands are inhabited. The highest peak in Indonesia is Puncak Jaya (16,024 ft), located on the island of New Guinea. There are 34 provinces in Indonesia, which are the largest subdivisions and the highest tier of the local government (Daerah Tingkat I – level I region). Provinces are further divided into regencies and cities (Daerah Tingkat II – level II regions), which are in turn subdivided into districts (kecamatan). Indonesia is positioned on top of the Pacific Ring of Fire, resulting in highly unstable tectonic activity, numerous volcano eruptions, and frequent earthquakes with accompanying tsunamis. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which was followed by the devastating Boxing Day Tsunami on December 26, led to the loss of more than 150,000 Indonesian citizens. On September 28, 2018, an earthquake with a 7.5 magnitude and subsequent tsunami near Sulawesi resulted in more than 2,000 casualties and approximately 10,000 injuries. There are more than 400 volcanoes throughout the Indonesian islands, 130 of which are active. Flag The national flag of Indonesia, Sang Saka Merah Putih, was officially adopted on the country's declaration of independence. The flag consists of two colors - red and white. The upper horizon band of red represents human blood, body, and red sugar, and the white symbolizes the human spirit, soul, and white rice. The colors were inspired by the banner of Majapahit Empire, the last Indianized kingdom in Indonesia during the 13th century. Others hypothesize that it was influenced by Austronesian mythology, in which the colors of red and white represent Mother Earth and Father Sky, respectively. Demographics Population: 260,580,739 (4th largest in the world) Capital: Jakarta (10.517 million) Population distribution: Major concentration on the island of Java, which is considered one of the most densely populated places on earth; of the outer islands (those surrounding Java and Bali), Sumatra contains some of the most significant clusters, particularly in the south near the Selat Sunda, and along the northeastern coast near Medan; the cities of Makasar (Sulawesi), Banjarmasin (Kalimantan) are also heavily populated. Ethnic Groups: Over 300 Javanese 40.1%, Sundanese 15.5%, Malay 3.7%, Batak 3.6%, Madurese 3%, Betawi 2.9%, Minangkabau 2.7%, Buginese 2.7%, Bantenese 2%, Banjarese 1.7%, Balinese 1.7%, Acehnese 1.4%, Dayak 1.4%, Sasak 1.3%, Chinese 1.2%, other 15%. Languages: The official language is Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia), which is a modified form of Malay. Over 700 other local and regional languages and dialects spoken of which Javanese is the most popular. Religion Indonesia is constitutionally a secular democratic state, but under the first pillar of Pancasila, it is a nation with monotheistic belief. Based on the government’s guarantee of freedom of religion and right to worship, all citizens of Indonesia are obliged to adhere one of the six official religions – Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism – with no permission of atheism and agnosticism. Despite such religious pluralism, Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim country which takes 87.2% (207.2 million) of its total population, from which Islamic-principles are highly influential in the country’s politics. (Protestant 6.9% (16.5 million), Catholic 2.9% (6.9 million), Hindu 1.7% (4.0 million), Buddhist 0.7% (1.7 million), Confucian 0.05% (0.1 million))https://www.indonesia-investments.com/culture/religion/item69? As every citizen is identified as religious followers, the government requires religion to be specified as mandatory personal data in official documents, including ID cards and passports. In terms of marriage, Indonesian Law No.1 of 1974 stipulates that couples must be affiliated in the same religion, or one party must convert to other religion.https://indonesia.embassy.gov.au/jakt/marriageind.html Religion is also a compulsory subject in public education throughout all levels of schooling, in which schoolchildren study their own religion with teachers who hold their same religious belief.http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.5367/sear.2014.0231 In current days, Indonesia has been facing intensified inter-religious intolerance and violence (e.g. Jakarta governor Ahok’s guilty of blasphemy), which is in urgent need to be resolved. Education Overview Formal education in Indonesia began with the increase of trade between India and China and was based upon the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. At approximately the same time as Hindu kingdoms in Java slowly began to lose their influence in the region, Islam was spreading because of trade with prominent Muslim kingdoms. Formal education become increasingly prominent due to the emphasis placed on it by Islamic tradition. The spread of Islam saw what are considered the first pesantren or Islamic boarding schools. A type of school which exists to this day in Indonesia. Education during Dutch colonization was highly stratified and used to serve Dutch interests. The highest level of education was reserved for the Dutch with lower forms provided to those of the native population who would need to be trained for administrative duties in the Dutch colony. Although there was very little opportunity for the greater native population to receive education some Christian education was provided and pesantrens continued to have an influence in the rural areas of Java. When Indonesia gained Independence in 1945 the new president, Sukarno, and his regime recognized the importance of education in maintaining unity in a nation in which even communication was an issue because of such a diversity of languages. Education was used by Sukarno as a means for nation building and was founded upon the principles of creating citizens. The Pancasila (mentioned above) was an important learning outcome of the early education system. The Suharto regime (1966-1998) favored a highly centralized system for governing Indonesia and education was no exception. Seeing the value of education in nation building Suharto implemented one of the largest ever primary school construction programs and nearly achieved universal primary education across the country. After Suharto stepped down, in large part because of the unrest caused by the Asian economic crisis in the late 90’s, his successor began a rapid decentralization effort which cut across all aspects of society. Despite this drastic changes in administration techniques the focus of the national education system remains human resource development and nationalism. News and Current Events Videos Photos and videos are a great way to add visuals to your wiki. Add one below! Category:Browse